Barbara Boxer: “since last week, I have introduced several bills to help California deal with the electricity crisis and to help prevent…”

“since last week, I have introduced several bills to help California deal with the electricity crisis and to help prevent such emergencies from occurring in other States in the future. Today, I am introducing another such bill--the State Electricity Reserve Fund Act. Current electricity generating capacity is tied to the expected need. Private generating companies have no incentive to build or maintain facilities that would generate capacity greater than what is needed to meet consumer demand. The plants would be idle most of the time. As a result, electricity shortages can occur. A lack of rainfall, which means that hydroelectric facilities cannot be operated as often, as well as unseasonably hot or cold temperatures, or rapid population increases in a State can all result in a demand for electricity unexpectedly exceeding supply. But with supply tied to expected demand, this can result in devastatingly large price increases for consumers and/or electricity shortages, which in turn could cause brownouts or blackouts. This is exactly what has happened in California.”